CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
The Brafferton School was one of several colonial “Indian Schools” intended to Christianize and educate Indigenous men and boys in a western scholastic tradition. It was part of a larger effort by Europeans to westernize and Christianize the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Brafferton’s establishment was made possible by a bequest of a prominent English scientist, who offered his fortune to the education of society. His trustees purchased an estate in Yorkshire and donated the yearly funds to the school, which was named after the estate in England. Located in Williamsburg at the College of William and Mary, Brafferton was designed to help train intermediaries between the colonists and Indigenous people.
In November 1711, Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood wrote to the Board of Trade, which supervised Great Britain's colonies, and described how he had urged the leaders of Virginia’s tributary tribes to send their sons to Brafferton. Leaders like Queen Ann of the Pamunkey objected to the separation of tribal families and feared that sending the boys would make them vulnerable to being sold into slavery. This fear was not unfounded, as Indigenous peoples had been sold into slavery in the past. In fact, the first four students at the school were boys Virginia officials had purchased from the Catawba, likely as prisoners of war. After Spotswood agreed to remit the annual tribute of animal skins, Queen Ann attended the Governor's Council on November 20 to inform them that she and the Pamunkey "Greatmen" agreed to send three Pamunkey boys, her own son and two sons of the councilors. Other tribal leaders, including the Nansemond, Nottoway, and Meherrin, also agreed to send boys to the school. In the documents, Spotswood refers to the Indigenous students as “Hostages.” It is unclear whether he used that language with Indigenous leaders, but it suggests that the Indigenous leaders’ distrust of the English and their motives was reasonable.
The next year saw an enrollment at Brafferton of the four original prisoners of war plus twenty students, all of whom came from tribes that had agreed to send their sons in exchange for a nullification of their yearly tribute. In the 18th century, yearly enrollment hovered between forty and eighty students from surrounding tribes like the Pamunkey, Nottoway, and Chickahominy, as well as from tribes hailing from further north and south, like the Delaware and Cherokee. The school taught English, traditional liberal arts courses, and Christian theology to students until after the Revolutionary War, when it closed permanently as English funding evaporated. The next wave of “Indian Schools” began in the mid-nineteenth century, and these boarding schools sought to eradicate Indigenous culture, rather than introduce western culture to Indigenous people. Both waves of boarding schools had in common the founders’ sense of cultural superiority over the Indigenous people.
Citations: Excerpt from Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Nov. 17, 1711, Colonial Office 5/1316, Public Record Office, Kew, England (available on Virginia Colonial Records Project microfilm at the Library of Virginia). Excerpt from Nov. 20, 1711 minutes printed in Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, ed. H. J. McILwaine (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1925–1966), 3:290─291.
For more information, read "The Early Decades of the Brafferton Indian School" from the College of William and Mary.
In November 1711, Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood wrote to the Board of Trade, which supervised Great Britain's colonies, and described how he had urged the leaders of Virginia’s tributary tribes to send their sons to Brafferton. Leaders like Queen Ann of the Pamunkey objected to the separation of tribal families and feared that sending the boys would make them vulnerable to being sold into slavery. This fear was not unfounded, as Indigenous peoples had been sold into slavery in the past. In fact, the first four students at the school were boys Virginia officials had purchased from the Catawba, likely as prisoners of war. After Spotswood agreed to remit the annual tribute of animal skins, Queen Ann attended the Governor's Council on November 20 to inform them that she and the Pamunkey "Greatmen" agreed to send three Pamunkey boys, her own son and two sons of the councilors. Other tribal leaders, including the Nansemond, Nottoway, and Meherrin, also agreed to send boys to the school. In the documents, Spotswood refers to the Indigenous students as “Hostages.” It is unclear whether he used that language with Indigenous leaders, but it suggests that the Indigenous leaders’ distrust of the English and their motives was reasonable.
The next year saw an enrollment at Brafferton of the four original prisoners of war plus twenty students, all of whom came from tribes that had agreed to send their sons in exchange for a nullification of their yearly tribute. In the 18th century, yearly enrollment hovered between forty and eighty students from surrounding tribes like the Pamunkey, Nottoway, and Chickahominy, as well as from tribes hailing from further north and south, like the Delaware and Cherokee. The school taught English, traditional liberal arts courses, and Christian theology to students until after the Revolutionary War, when it closed permanently as English funding evaporated. The next wave of “Indian Schools” began in the mid-nineteenth century, and these boarding schools sought to eradicate Indigenous culture, rather than introduce western culture to Indigenous people. Both waves of boarding schools had in common the founders’ sense of cultural superiority over the Indigenous people.
Citations: Excerpt from Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Nov. 17, 1711, Colonial Office 5/1316, Public Record Office, Kew, England (available on Virginia Colonial Records Project microfilm at the Library of Virginia). Excerpt from Nov. 20, 1711 minutes printed in Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, ed. H. J. McILwaine (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1925–1966), 3:290─291.
For more information, read "The Early Decades of the Brafferton Indian School" from the College of William and Mary.
Standards
VS.2, VS.3, US1.3, US1.5, WHII.4, VUS.2, VUS.3, GOVT.1
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Scan It: Scan the letter. What words stand out to you, and why? What is the tone of the letter? To whom was he writing, and what was the purpose of Spotswood’s letter?
Post-Activity
Think About It: Read the documents more closely. What do you think would make an Indigenous leader decide to send a child to this school? Do you think their concerns were well-grounded? Why or why not? What do you think of Spotswood’s use of the term “hostages” to describe the students?
Another Perspective: You are a member of a group opposed to sending children to Brafferton School to be educated. Why does your group feel this way?
Scan It: Scan the letter. What words stand out to you, and why? What is the tone of the letter? To whom was he writing, and what was the purpose of Spotswood’s letter?
Post-Activity
Think About It: Read the documents more closely. What do you think would make an Indigenous leader decide to send a child to this school? Do you think their concerns were well-grounded? Why or why not? What do you think of Spotswood’s use of the term “hostages” to describe the students?
Another Perspective: You are a member of a group opposed to sending children to Brafferton School to be educated. Why does your group feel this way?